“We keep us safe” is a progressive mantra. At Princeton, for example, this statement, plus an exclamation point, heads the tweet with the “Princeton Gaza Solidarity Encampment Community Guidelines” that Princeton Israel Apartheid Divest (@PtonDivestNow) posted on April 26, the day after the local encampment was set up. And on May 15, in announcing that the encampment was “open for...

　　Recently the New York Times ran an article about a social artifact that uniquely characterizes our times: the twenty-something polycule. A “polycule,” for the uninitiated, is a brutal portmanteau of “polyamorous” and “molecule,” or, it seems, the unit of an ever-growing erotic mass. It’s like a couple but fractally more grotesque. 　　What struck me wasn’t the article’s explanation of this...

　　How to Actually Love God with All Your Heart, Soul, Mind and Strength 　　By Kelly Balarie 　　“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” – Mark 12:30 NIV 　　All I heard was, “Blah…blah, blah.” 　　Although embarrassing to admit, I saw my husband’s mouth moving...

　　Jrgen Moltmann, a theologian who taught that Christian faith is founded in the hope of the resurrection of the crucified Christ and that the coming kingdom of God acts upon human history out of the eschatological future, died on June 3 in Tbingen, Germany. He was 98. 　　Moltmann is widely regarded as one of the most important theologians since World...

　　I was born in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Porto Alegre is in front of Lake Guaiba, which is formed by five rivers. In 1941, it suffered a tragic flood. Lake Guaiba rose almost sixteen feet above average, and a quarter of the population lost their homes. The trauma of such an event led the federal, state, and local governments to build...

　　The power of Hollywood is such that “The Big Lebowski” may be as well-known as Tom Hayden. Both were members of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the national student activist association founded in the 1960s. In the film, the fictional Jeff Lebowski claimed to be the author of SDS’s “original Port Huron Statement, not the compromised second draft.”...

　　The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has been a source of controversy since its creation. Critics of the agency have long argued that its independent status is unconstitutional. In a recent decision, however, the Supreme Court affirmed the constitutionality of the CFPB’s funding scheme, even though it circumvents the normal Congressional appropriation process by “allowing the Bureau to draw money...

　　“I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors: You have given me wisdom and power, you have made known to me what we asked of you…” Daniel 2:23 (NIV) 　　On a trip to a place where some of my ancestors lived – Ireland – I participated in an international prayer retreat. The other people I met at the retreat...

　　A volunteer Southern Baptist task force charged with implementing abuse reforms in the nations largest Protestant denomination will end its work next week without a single name published on a database of abusers. 　　The task forces report marks the second time a proposed database for abusive pastors has been derailed by denominational apathy, legal worries, and a desire to protect...

　　A prominent association of American colleges and universities has created a new commission of religious schools whose aim will be to share with their nonreligious counterparts recent successes in the areas of access and affordability and the innovations that have led to growth in recent years. 　　The Commission on Faith-based Colleges and Universities, recently announced by the American Council on...

　　The Italian Enlightenment thinker Giambattista Vico, who is often said to be the father of the philosophy of history, studied cycles of civilizations of the past. He observed that the rise of civilizations is marked by an evolution in communication, from mute religious acts to visual symbology to, finally, language, which allows laws to be articulated. Civilizational decline, on the...

　　A Prayer to Let Go of Offense 　　By Lynette Kittle 　　“A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense” - Proverbs 19:11 　　Doesn’t it seem like individuals are easily offended these days? Even more so, it seems like some are looking for reasons to be offended. Social media has made it easier than ever to...